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Topic: Route 66 anyone? (Read 4204 times)

For years I've wanted to locate a vintage section of old Route 66, a stretch that hasn't been ruined by progress, and ride it on vintage bikes. At first I was planning to restore an old BSA, then got smart and bought an RE. I don't know how much planning this would take, but it sure would be fun. I guess we would have to:* Pick the right stretch of road* Pick the proper season* Arrange an initial meeting place* Plan appropriate places to stop/camp/motel along the way* Have a couple spouses in a support vehicle?

sometimes I wish I had been born and of age before all the superslabs came about to be able to ride these roads on an old Harley or Indian..shoot I would probably be brash enough to try it on an RE[/quote]

Come on now Scotty, you would be ok on the RE. I wouldn't hesitate to ride my Electra on just about any road. I once rode my XT225 821 miles in 42 hours and that included being lost in Atlanta and spending the night there. With the sheepskin seat cover the ride was wonderful. Great time riding the Dragon at Deals Gap, N.C. If you are not familar with the Dragon, just type in Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, NC on your computer and you will be there. A guy once (maybe twice) road the 4-Corners on a Honda Helex scooter. You can do it Scotty.LaterTerry

A long long time ago, I rode a very sick Enfield 350 725 miles, in two days, in winter, with pouring rain the entire route. It was blowing smoke, misfiring and still got me to where I needed to be at speeds of up to 60 mph, through mountains, and flatlands. These machines are amazing, and will do more than you think they will. I would not hesitate to do the same trip, in the same weather, with my current Bullet.

The sick Enfield I used at that time, never got rebuilt, and never blew the engine - it just rattled a lot, blew smoke, and misfired. There is probably some guy in Central Europe still riding the thing.

Being on the other side of the Atlantic means I can't join in with a Route 66 ride, but I hope it goes ahead. Keep on with the planning, because I want to see the photos!

(I have driven a car (a Buick) down the New Jersey Turnpike. Not quite in the same league as Route 66 but it does "make a song come true" - "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America").

I live less than a mile from a stretch of the old Rt 66 in NM. There are sections of it 20 and 30 miles long, but interrupted by pieces of I-40; no long, continuous piece, and no easy non-superslab links between the pieces of old road. That said, the old 66 is still a great riding road.

I've ridden Rt 66 from St. Louis to Oatman, AZ in one stretch, and from StL to Chicago and back on another trip.

The oldest, most intact stretches are actually in Oklahoma, but being a big fan of the southwest territories my favorite stretches were those found in NM and AZ.Through IL and MO you really eat up a LOT of time wayfinding and hopping back and forth on service roads along I-55 & I-44. The Urban Sprawl is BRUTAL.

Look for the series of fold-out maps called "HERE IT IS" (I thnk). It gives turn-by-turn directions, along with locations of sights and landmarks along the way, and in a fun format. I took those directions and manually wrote down all the turns and stuff into a word document and pasted together a scroll-map out of it. It sorta worked.

As for time of year - I believe it is the best kept secret of the southwest that the 1st couple weeks of October are absolutely HEAVENLY to be there. Much before that, and it can be brutally hot, after that and you run the risk of hitting a snow storm or 2 and road closures up on the Colorado Plateu.

Hotels and campgrounds are extremely plentiful all along the Old Road, and you won't have to worry about finding something as you ride along.

Sag-wagons are for Hardley-Ablesons. Show some ballz man!

But really, there's more than enough dealers along the way to lend support at reasonable intervals as well, so even if you run into trouble you'll either be able to make it to the next one, or at least get to within the AAA+ 100 mile range.